Malfunctioning Diebold Voting Machines Run By Romney Team
Member At Iowa PollRon Paul snatches fifth place in Straw
Poll as voting machines again fail, questions raised over conflicts
of interest in oversight personnel

Ron Paul supporters were angered at this weekend's straw poll in Iowa
by the fact that Diebold voting machines once again malfunctioned and
caused significant delays in the count, coupled with the fact that a
Mitt Romney team member was placed in charge of overseeing the voting
procedure.

Earlier in the week a group of Paul supporters attempted
to block the vote based on concerns over insecurities in
the Diebold machines. The Paul supporters took their case to the 8th
Circuit Court of Appeals, after being blocked by a lower court, but
the appeals panel also refused to join an injunction against the vote,
an attorney for the Iowa GOP, Matt McDermott, told the AP.

More concerning was the fact that earlier in the week a huge conflict
of interest was
exposed by a Ron Paul supporter as it was revealed that
oversight of the voting procedure was conducted by a "Mitt Romney
Leadership Team" Member.

The Story County Auditor's Office, which was in charge of running the
votes is headed by Mary
Mosiman who also happens to be on Mitt
Romney's "Romney for President Leadership Team".

Though Ron Paul's campaign people chose to remain uninvolved in these
matters, it turned out that the fears were justified as around 4500
ballots were re-run and the announcement of the poll results
was delayed by around an hour as a recount was initiated.

The machines used were Diebold's optical scanners, which do provide
paper ballots, unlike the Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) voting machines
which provide no paper trail to go back to should the machines fail.

Though it was reported that about 30,000 to 33,000 Republicans came
to meet candidates and cast their votes, only 14,302 were actually cast.
Over a quarter of the votes had to be recounted after the malfunction.

Though it was also
reported that "there were nothing but Ron Paul signs
in the crowd" and that his campaign signs lined
the highways and streets leading into Ames, Iowa, Paul
came in fifth place behind Romney, Huckabee, Brownback and Tancredo.
This is encouraging however because many of Paul's supporters came from
out of state, meaning they were ineligible to vote.

Given that Romney reportedly spent millions on advertising the straw
poll and personally paid for his supporters travel expenses, laying
on hundreds of buses, as well as paying for their tickets, it was not
surprising that he won by such a margin.

In addition, given that only about 14,000 votes were reportedly cast,
Ron Paul’s showing of 1305 votes is almost 10 percent, quadruple
the 2% of the vote he supposedly has in national polls and what sources
said was the base level of support that the campaign hoped to achieve
in the Iowa Straw Poll.

Ron Paul's campaign is encouraged by the result which has proven that
he is able to turn online support into actual votes and has disproved
ridiculous claims that his supporters are merely trolls and spammers
who are adept at fixing online polls.

"We are pleased and encouraged by the results. ... Our campaign
has begun," Paul's campaign chairman Kent Snyder said in a statement
posted on the RonPaul2008.com. Snyder listed three ingredients for success:
the message of "freedom, peace and prosperity"; "the
man: Ron Paul"; and Paul's committed supporters.

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The Ames Straw Poll's results are non-binding and have no official
effect on the presidential primaries. However, the straw poll is
frequently seen as a first test of organizational strength in Iowa
by the news media and party insiders.

Gambling 911 has reported that the Straw Poll results seem not
to have mattered as far as the online bookmakers are concerned.
Huckabee remains at 50 to 1 odds while neither Romney's or Ron Paul's
numbers changed remaining at 8 to 1.

Related: See Ron Paul's keynote speech and how it was once again
spun by the corporate media here.